I Am the Thirsty Desert by Darcy Pattison

I Am the Thirsty Desert by Darcy Pattison

...informative, effective, and poetic introduction to a desert's beauty and complexity. Kirkus Reviews.

2023 Eureka Nonfiction Honor Book, California Reading Association

Award-winning science writer Darcy Pattison presents a superbloom from the desert's point-of-view.

When a sudden downpour, a monsoon, falls in the desert, plants and animals explode with growth. Plants sprout, bloom, produce seeds and die within a couple days. Likewise, in a week, animals hatch, grow, mate, lay eggs, and return to hibernation or estivation.

Strong lyrical text takes on the persona of the desert as it watches seeds it has cradled become flowering plants.

...I'm flooded with redbluegreenyelloworangepurple

and buzzing with life-

gorgeous, outrageous,

frail LIFE

The natural life cycles of the desert depend on rain. Explore this fascinating environment during one of its most spectacular displays of life.

Darcy Pattison (www.darcypattison.com) wanted to be an astronaut as a kid. Instead, in this chapter book, she writes about space. Her middle grade works include SAUCY AND BUBBA: A Hansel and Gretel Story, THE GIRL, THE GYPSY AND THE GARGOYLE, and VAGABONDS, which have been translated into nine languages. ABAYOMI, THE BRAZILIAN PUMA: The Real Tale of an Orphaned Cub (Mims House), WISDOM, THE MIDWAY ALBATROSS (Mims House), a Starred Review in Publishers Weekly; DESERT BATHS (Sylvan Dell), an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book 2013; and PRAIRIE STORMS (Sylvan Dell) are some of the most recent nature books for children. Start Your Novel, How to Write a Children's Picture Book, and The Book Trailer Handbook are some of the other resources for writers. Darcy Pattison won the Arkansas Governor's Arts Awards in 2007 for her contributions to children's literature.